Page 5 of Consequences
“Sarah?” I interrupt her when she goes to leave the room, and she stands there, not looking at me. My heart hurts for whatwe put her through on this. Not only having to work on Lio, but putting her livelihood in danger—again. “Thank you.”
Giving a barely perceptible nod, she strides out, likely checking on everything from an administrator’s perspective. Exhaling, I slump down in the chair, turning my head toward Keegan. I’m wiped out, and not even sure what to do here. Fuck knows I don’t trust any guards right now.
Keegan kisses my forehead and opens my phone to the contact list. “Let me call and give updates to everyone, and then I’ll talk to the Amatos. We’ll figure out coverage, and I’m sure they’ll be willing to lend those who are already cleared from their guards.”
With a weak smile, I close my eyes and listen to him talk on the phone. It doesn’t take long for tiredness to claim me. Fuck knows my neck is going to hurt after this, but I’m done. My mental status is offline. Let’s hope Keegan can make magic happen. With that, I slip into sleep, content to know Lio will live. We’ll deal with the rest as it unfolds.
Iwince as Doc pokes at the wound that used to be my index finger. He doesn’t apologize, but I didn’t expect him to. As hard as Soren’s worked to try to instill bedside manners into him, it will never stick. Doc was born an ornery bastard, and one day someone will kill him for it.
“I needed to make sure there were no fragments floating around, or any other particulars. The last thing we need is for you to lose your whole hand because of an infection that could have been avoided. It’s the same thing I had to do when Roman lost his, remember?”
How could I forget? Your son getting kidnapped is a parent’s worst nightmare, and not something easily forgotten.
“Now I’m going to stitch you up. I could give you something to numb it, or I could just get it over with?”
I sigh. “Get it over with, please. I’d like to see Ten.”
“Nobody is seeing Tennant right now. We have him sedated, and I’m keeping him that way for the next few days, because the fucker needs to heal from major surgery; you know he’s the worst patient.”Understatement.
“Roman needs to see him. We both know he’s going to be beside himself.”
“Roman was also hit, even if it was just a small nick. He needs sleep, not to sit at his lover’s beside and worry—kid has done enough of that over the last few weeks. I don’t know if you noticed, but he’s exhausted and has lost weight from the stress, and he didn’t have any to spare. So no, no one is seeing Ten today.”
“Ashby.” Doc’s birth name is heavy on my tongue, but I don’t ask anything from him, except this.
Doc finishes stitching up the wound he reopened, and looks at me with bright amber eyes. I can see the pain and emotion in his gaze, and I hate putting him in this position, but it’s not a want, it’s a need.
“You’re the only person who knows what Tennant means to me. I’ve been without him for weeks now. That bastard took great pleasure in telling us what was happening to the Families while we were just sitting there wasting time with his bullshit. Please. Don’t do this to us.”
“Fine.” He jerks away and puts his tools down, only to come back with a syringe of something and pushes it through the IV in my arm, that’s already giving me fluids to address the dehydration. “I’m giving you a broad antibiotic, because the last thing we need is you catching something. Thankfully, whoever stitched your side up knew what they were doing. It’ll scar, but what’s one more?”
Doc fiddles around with his equipment, before finally tossing his gloves and looking at me. “I’ll allow you to sit with him until the bag of fluid empties. I need to check on Allesandro as well.I'll probably have to reopen his finger wound and flush it. That should be plenty of time.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t fucking thank me, Cris,” he snaps. Letting out a breath, he runs a hand down his face, and I note the dark circles under his eyes. “Don’t do that to me again, but don’t you dare fucking thank me for this. I know what it’s like to need your soulmate more than you need your next breath, so go sit with him.”
Doc helps me from the small room he’s taken over for all his medical overflow, and leads me back to the medical room. As soon as possible, I’m renovating this office. He deserves the biggest and best office that money can buy, and I’m going to make it happen. Especially if the Martellis are going to stick around while we try to figure out how and why we were taken in the first place.
As much as I wish it was easy enough to say, “The Bosses are home now, it’s over”, that isn’t the case. Past experience suggests it’s not as simple as it seems.
Doc helps me settle into the chair next to Tennant’s hospital bed. I'd argue with him about not needing the help, but he would probably cut me, so it's not a risk I’m willing to take.
Doc packs up more supplies, and leaves to go torture Allesandro. I wish my friend good luck with that. Doc is…in a mood, since the whole Dr. Ranlen thing.
Alone in the room, I stare at Tennant’s face, willing those ice blue eyes to open, though I know they won’t until Doc brings him around—and in the mood he’s in, who knows if that’ll be in a day or a week.
The harsh panes of Ten’s face are softened, and I can see the resemblance to the pre-teen boy I met so long ago. Time has aged and hardened us both, but the men we’ve become wouldn’t have survived without the boys we once were.
Tennant is more than my best friend, more than my Second. He is…my everything. We’ve been through hell and back together, and there are things in our past that even our lovers don’t know. Stuff Doc wasn’t even privy to.
To lose him would be like losing myself.
Tennant might need me to hold his leash for him, but he holds the key to everything I am. Carter and Roman may be my light in this dark life, but Ten…he is the very heart of me. Amici forgiati attraverso il sangue e la morte.
Picking up his hand, I hold it between both of mine.
“You're not allowed to leave me, asshole. I'm not facing my son, or Hollis, alone.”
